EQUESTRIAN
Equestrianism made its Olympic debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
It disappeared until 1912, but has appeared at every Summer Olympic Games since. The current Olympic equestrian disciplines are Dressage, Eventing, and Jumping. In each discipline, both individual and team medals are awarded. It is one of the sports on the programme where women and men compete together on equal terms.
What is dressage?
In modern Dressage competitions, horse and rider are expected to perform from memory a series of predetermined movements, known as ‘figures’ (volte, serpentine, figure of eight). They perform these movements in a completely flat, rectangular arena, measuring 40 x 20m or 60 x 20m. The arena is skirted by a low rail along which 12 lettered markers are placed symmetrically indicating where movements are to start and finish and where changes of pace occur. Upon entering the arena, each rider proceeds down a marked centre line and halts to salute. In all competitions, the horse has to show the paces: walk, trot and canter as well as smooth transitions within and between these paces.
Dressage is one of the three disciplines in competition at the Olympic Games, the other two being Jumping and Eventing.
What is Jumping?
In modern Jumping competitions, horse and rider are required to complete a course of 10 to 13 jumps, the objective of which is to test the combination’s skill, accuracy and training.
The aim is always to jump the course in the designed sequence with no mistakes – a clear round. If any part of an obstacle is knocked down or if the horse refuses a jump, penalties are accumulated. The winner of the competition is the horse and rider combination that incurs the least number of penalties, completes the course in the fastest time or gains the highest number of points depending on the type of competition.
Jumping is one of the three disciplines in competition at the Olympic Games, the other two being Eventing and Dressage.
What is eventing?
Eventing demands of the competitor considerable experience in all branches of equitation and a precise knowledge of the horse’s ability and of the horse a degree of competence resulting from intelligent and rational training. It covers all round riding ability and horsemanship: the harmony between horse and rider that characterise Dressage; the contact with nature, precise knowledge of the horses ability and extensive experience essential for the Cross Country; the precision, agility and technique involved in Jumping.
Eventing is one of the three disciplines in competition at the Olympic Games, the other two being Jumping and Dressage.
The winning individual is the competitor with the lowest total of penalty points. The winning team is the one with the lowest total of penalty points, after adding together the final scores of the three highest placed competitors in the team
Ireland won a bronze medal with Cian O’Connor in the show jumping event at the London Olympic Games.
National Federation: Horse Sport Ireland
International Federation: Fédération Équestre Internationale
EQUESTRIAN NEWS
Seven Riders named across Eventing, Showjumping and Dressage for Paris 2024
The Olympic Federation of Ireland has officially selected the equestrian team who are set to compete at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. Team Ireland will be represented by a showjumping team, an eventing team, and individual dressage at the Games, with competition taking place on the grounds of the Versailles Palace. The eventing [...]
Performance Round Up – March
Catch up on the latest results of Team Ireland athletes throughout the month of March. Jack Woolley Qualifies in Taekwondo For Paris 2024 Three years on from the delayed Tokyo Games, where he became Ireland’s first participant in any Olympic taekwondo event, Woolley has again sealed his place in the 58kg division. Jude Gallagher adds [...]
Weekend Recap | Rugby, Athletics, Show Jumping
Ireland dominate to win fifth Wellington CSIO4* Nations Cup The Underwriting Exchange Irish Show Jumping team won a fifth CSIO4* Wellington International Nations Cup after an utterly dominant performance at the Florida venue overnight. Michael Blake’s team of Darragh Kenny on Eddy Blue, David O’Brien on El Balou Old, Shane Sweetnam on RR Combella and [...]
Bernard Jackman Appointed Acting Head of Sport at HSI
JACKMAN APPOINTED ACTING HEAD OF SPORT AT HSI Former Ireland rugby international to oversee high performance programme in run-up to Paris Olympics Bernard Jackman has been appointed Acting Head of High Performance Sport at Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) in the lead-up to the Olympic Games in Paris. The former Ireland rugby union international, who won a […]
SELECTED ATHLETES
Abigail Lyle
BIOGRAPHY Abi comes from a completely non-equine background but finally persuaded her parents to buy her a horse after completing her GCSEs. She started college in Queens (English and Film), but left after 18 months and worked as a groom in a racing yard, before moving to England in 2009, to work and train in [...]
Daniel Coyle
BIOGRAPHY When his best horse Uptown Girl was retired in 2016 Daniel found himself at a crossroads but a move to Canada ignited his career to far greater heights. He initially went to work with Conor Swail but soon became first rider for owners Susan and Aeriel Grange in Ontario, and his world ranking has [...]
Aoife Clark*
BIOGRAPHY A graduate of UCD with a first-class degree in Maths and Classics Aoife performed brilliantly at her last Olympic Games in London 2012. Her seventh place, on Master Crusoe, was Ireland’s best individual finish in 36 years, and helped the team to a fifth-place finish. She rose to 11th in the world rankings in [...]
Susie Berry
BIOGRAPHY Susie was riding from a young age (her mum is a vet and a breeder) and, from 2012 to 2017 represented Ireland in six European Junior Championships, winning team gold and team bronze. In 2014 she relocated from Northern Ireland to Maidwell, Northamptonshire to train and work for Piggy March and won Junior European [...]
Heike Holstein
BIOGRAPHY Heike first sat on a pony at the age of two. She won her first Irish title aged 18 (1990) and has since won it 12 times. She trained with seven-time Olympic medallist Dr Reiner Klimke in Germany for many years and this will be her fourth Olympics. She was 26th in Atlanta (1996), [...]
Sarah Ennis
BIOGRAPHY Sarah has competed on over 60 horses for Ireland since 2002. She started out with the Ward Union Hunt and Howth Pony Club before taking to eventing at age 18. She rose to 15th on the world rankings in 2013, and her individual fifth was vital to Ireland winning silver at the 2018 World [...]
Sam Watson
BIOGRAPHY Since his international debut (2002) Sam has competed in three World Equestrian Games (2010, 2014, 2018) and contributed to three top ten team finishes. His biggest achievement was 14th individual place in 2018 which helped Ireland to their historic team silver. He was 12th, individually, at the 2015 European Championships and 10th at the [...]
Austin O’Connor
BIOGRAPHY Austin is competing in his fourth Olympic Games in Paris. He and his Olympic partner from Tokyo had a sensational year in 2023 when he was the first Irish rider in 40 years (since Jessica Harrington) to make the podium in Badminton. He then went on to win the prestigious CC15* in Maryland; the [...]
Shane Sweetnam
BIOGRAPHY Shane began his Grand Prix career aged 16. After qualifying in IT from the University of Limerick in 2004 he headed to USA to work with US Olympic veteran Margie Engle, and has been based in Florida since. He was eighth individually to help Ireland to team gold at the 2017 Europeans. In 2021 [...]
Cathal Daniels
BIOGRAPHY In 2012, aged 15, Cathal won individual and team gold at the European Pony Eventing Championship in France. He won two team golds and individual silver at European U18s (2013/2014) as well as European U21 team bronze and fourth individually in 2015. In 2018 he was part of Ireland’s team silver at the World [...]
Bertram Allen
BIOGRAPHY Bertram made his Olympic debut in Tokyo with Pacino Amiro (also known as ‘Buddy’), and qualified for individual final where the pair finished 15th (8 faults and a time of 84:64). Bertram was the youngest ever winner of a Global Champions Grand Prix (Paris, 2015) and, with Romanov, took bronze at the World Cup [...]
Darragh Kenny
BIOGRAPHY Darragh rode in his first Grand Prix at 14 and debuted in the Dublin Horse Show (2007) when just 19. He was a member of Ireland’s Nations Cup (Aga Khan) victors in Dublin in 2015. In 2007 he won a training bursary to work with a top American coach at North Run Stables (Vermont [...]
Cian O’Connor
BIOGRAPHY This is Cian’s fourth Olympic Games and he is Ireland’s only equestrian medallist to date; winning a brilliant bronze on Blue Loyd in London 2012. He won team silver at Junior Europeans in 2000 and was only 19 when he rode in his first Nations Cup. He won an individual bronze and a team [...]